Rotary explosive-engine.



No. 726,353. PATENTBD APR. 28 1903.

` P. C. SAINSEVAIN.

ROTARY EXPLOSIVB ENGNE.

APPLIUATION HLED UNE 12, 1902.

Y a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATBNTED APR. 28, 1903.

P. C. SAINSEVAIN. ROTARY EXPLSIVE ENGINE.

.APPLICATION FILED JUNE12,1902.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

WJTNSES:

Afm/way.

No. 726,353. PATENTED APR. 28, 1903.

3?. G. SANSEVAN.

RTARY BXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

f A PPLIGATION HLED JUNE 12. 1902.

No MODEL. a SHEETS-SHEET a.

WYTNESSES J'N V l? N T OJ?.

UNITEDy STATES Parent @harvest i PAUL C. SAINSEVAIN,' OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, ASSlGNOR @FONTE-HALF TO ALPHONSE G. COL, OF SAN JOSE, CALlFORNlA.

ROTARY ExPLoss-vB-sncina.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of -Letters Patent No, 726,353, dated pril 28,

Application filed June 12, 1902. Serial No. 111,265. (No model.)

To all u'tom, it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, PAUL CHnRLEs SAINsE- VAIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Jose, in the county offSanta Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Rotary EX- plosive-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rotary explosivecnxo gines, the object of my Vinvention being to provide anengine of this character which shall be simple in construction and of great efficiency in proportion to the size of the engine. t5 My invention therefore resides in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts for the above ends hereinafter fully specified, and particularly pointed outin the .claims y In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is aver-tical longitudinal section of my improved rotary engine. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line A-A of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line B B of Fig.. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 5 is a broken vertical seotion through the -cylinder on the line C C of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow. 3o Fig. G'is a similar section on the line D D `of Fig. l looking in the same direction. Fig. 7 is a perspective View of the shaft and the oscillating piston detached.. Fig. 8 is a similar View ofthe fixed piston detached. Fig. 9 is a View of an end of the machine on the lefthand side of Fig. 1. Fig. 10 is a vertical section ofthe engine on the'line E E of Fig. 1. Fig. 1l is an enlarged detail end View showing the sparking mechanism in front eleva- 4o tion. Fig. 12 is a view of a portion of the sparking mechanism on the inside of the cylinder. Fig. 13 is a section on the line F F of Fig. l1.

Referring to the drawings, l represents the' shaft of my improved rotary-exp.osive-engine mounted in pillow-blocks 2, sup;V orted on suitahestandards 3. Said shaft isnollow for the gr ater portion of its length, as s'iown, its ends `being closed by the plugs 4, upm-[which are se- 59 cured gear-wheels '5 for conveyng the power 'generated by the englne to anjf." suitable machinery wherein it is desired to utilize the same. Upon said shaft lis mounted the rotary cylinder 7, the cylinder-heads 8 whereof are secured in place upon the shaft 1 by means of 55 the'nuts 9. To said cylinder is secured the fixed piston 10, which passes through a lon gitudinal slot or aperture 1l in the hollow shaft, fitting snugly in said aperture. Thereby 'the cylinder issecured to said shaft and trans- 6o mits rotation thereto. The xed piston is cut outor reduced in width in its central portion, as shown at 12,"so that while the middle portion of the shaft is completely closed by said central portion of the pistonagainst the 4passage of gases from. one end of said shaft to the other there is left at each end of the hollow shaft within the cylinder an opening or port 13, by means of which the gases pass between said hollow shaft and the interior 17o of the cylinder. To permit this to be done, the fixed piston is recessed, as shown at le, in its opposite faces, said recesses being in the4 two halves thereof which extend on opposite sides of the shaft. The recess le in each face is 75 extended inward or toward the shaft at one corner in proximity to the head of the cylin der, so as to communicate'with the port 13 inthe shaft, so that while said extension 15 on one face communicates with the steam- 8o'-4 port at one end of the cylinder the extension 15, from the other recess communicates with the port at the other end of the cylinder, as clearly shown by comparison of Figs. 5 and 6. Uponthe shaft lis also rotatably imounted the oscillating piston 16. `Said oscillating piston comprises hub portions 17, which renected within the shield by a rod 25, upon roo.

which is pivotally mounted a link 24, con-I nected to crankarms 25 upon shafts 2 6, ek-

vtending through usuitable boxes 27 inthe cylinder-h end and having mounted onth'eir ends gear-wheels 128,.-wn-ich revolve around and mesh witllstationary gear-wheels 29, secured upon the:"p'illow-blocks.y By this meansas the cylinder revolves the gear-wheels 28 revolve aroundthe'fxed gear-wheels 29 and impartan 'epicyc'loidal motion to the crankarins. The' diameter 'of the gear-wheel 29 is 1o twice that' of the gear-wheels 28. The oscillating piston, therefore, in'one revolution of the cylinder makestwo complete oscillations to and from thefixed piston. In one of these oscillationsthe gasis ignited, exploded, and

vtscha gedgand in the second oscillation a aggengineare used for communicating with one of the explosive-chambers 33 between the osc'illatingand ixedpistons, while the ports 3l and* 32 at the other end of the engine are used forcommunicating with the other of said ex- 'gpV plosive-chambers To accomplish this there are provided in the ends of the hollow shaft ports34, communicating with said supply and 'discharge ports 31 and 32 alternately in the revolution of the shaft. In order to insure that 5 the-'explosions in the two explosive-chambers 'shall take place alternately-that is to say, 4tha'tthe gas shall -be exploded and dischargedv intoone chamber while at the same time a I fresh supplyof gas is beingdrawn in and 54o compressedgin the other chamber-1 arrange Athze'two ports 34in the circumference of the i h wv shaft-on diametrically opposite sides tlrshaft. 4Thus supposing that-the cyl- "iis revolving'in the direction of the arrowls' 1own in Fig. 10 and the lower explosionlch'a'mr 33 has'arrived at such .a position that 4explosion takes place therein, the oppositejexplosion-chamber will at 4the same time have come into communication, by means of. the extended'recess 15, the port 13, the port 34, andthe supply-port 3l, with the supplypipe 30-,so that at the same. moment that explosion 'takes place in the lower explosion-1 lchamber a-charge of the explosion mixture.

` beginsto enter theupper ex plosion-chambeivif t The upper explosion-chamber in Fig. 10 is connected by means of the extended recess 15 wihthe ports attire end of the engine on the left in Fig. 1, while the explosion-chamber ...6.o on the right is connected with those on the rightof Fig. 1. In order, therefore, for the explosive mixture to be drawn into the upper explosion-'chamber at the same time that the explosion takes' place in the lower explosion- `iig; chamber theport 34 in the shaftmust be just beginning to 'pass the inlet-port from the su pply-pipe 30.1' The port 34'in the shaft at the .most position.

. coil.

left-hand side of Fig.1 is therefore in its upper At the same time the corresponding port at the right-hand side of Fig.l is in its lowermost position and is shut 01T from both' the su'ppl'y and exhaust ports in the pillow block. When the shaft has turned through one-quarter of a revolution so thatthe 4crank-shafts 26 'have moved through one-halfv of a revolution, the port 34 on the right-hand .side of Fig. 1 will have moved to such a position as to communicate with the exhaustport at that end of the engine, and the products of explosion will be exhausted from: the right-hand explosion-chamber 33 of Fig. l0. At the same time the left-hand explosionchamber of Fig. 10 will now be cut off from the supply-pipe, the port 34 having just passed the supply-port, and upon the return of the oscillating piston toward the fixed piston the explosion-chamber on the 'left-hand side of Fig. 10 will begin to contract, thus -comp'ressing the explosive ,mixture therein. This contraction will take place until the parts have again arrived lat the position shownkin Fig. 10, when an explosion will take place in the explosion-chamber in which the explosive mixture has been compressed, and the operation will be repeated continuously, there being two explosions for each revolution of the shaft-namely, one explosion in each explosion-chamber. It will thus be 'seen that Iprovide in a rotary engine the fourcycle operations of charging', compressing, exploding, and exhausting. i

For obtaining the spark I provide the following construction: 'Iohrough the cylinderhead is insgrted a tube 40, within which isan asbestos packing 41 around an electrode 42. At a proper point in the revolution of the shaft the end 43 of the electrode which pro-v jects outside the cylinder-head comes into u contact with a spring contact-plate 44, supported on a suitable bracket 45 from one of IIO the standards and insulated as shown at 46.

The two wires47 48 from the spark-coil 49 are connected the one, 47, with the spring-contact 44 and the other, 48, through the standard with the cylindenliead. In 'said cylinderheadl is also mounted a shaft 50, carrying on pressed against the inner end 52 of the electrode 42 by means of` a spring 53, which is attached to an arm 54 on'the outer endof the shaft. Thus as soon as the outer end 43 of the electrode'touches the contact-plate acirccuit is 'made through the wire 47,` contact- `plate44, electrode 42, hammer 51, cylinderhead 8, standard 3, and wire 48, around the Said contact-plate carries a finger 55, insulated therefrom hysuitable insulation 56,

which at a proper point in the revolution of the shaft engages a lever 57 on the shaft 50, and thereby. throwsA the hammer I5l o. from contact with the inner end 'of the electrode 42, making the spark and causing an explosion in the mixture of gas and'air. There is onesuch hammer for eachof the explosion- `its inner end a hammer 51, which is normally .cylinder-head and connected with the oscil-` lating piston, a gear-wheel on said shaft, a fixed gear-wheel about which said gear-wheel revolves, and meansfor admitting pressure fluid into a chamber between the pistons and exhausting it therefrom, substantially as described.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination ofa revolving cylinder, a 'piston revolving therewith, a second piston oscillating to and from the first piston, shafts extending through the cylinder-heads, gear-wheels on said shafts,

fixed gear-wheels about which said gearl-wheels revolve, and means for admitting cillating movement to said piston, said means extending through the cylinder-head, and means' for admitting pressure fluid toa chamber between the two pistons and exhausting it therefrom, substantiallyas described.

et. In a rotary engine, the combination of a revolving cylinder, a hollow shaft therefor, a fixed piston extending through said hollow shaft and connected with said cylinder, a piston oscillating about said shaft to and from the fixed piston, and means for conducting pressure fluid through said hollow shaft to and from a chamber between the fixed and oscillating pistons, substantially as described.

5. In a rotary engine, the combination of a revolving cylinder, a hollow shaft, a fixed piston secured to said shaft andl tothe cylinder, an oscillating piston the sides of which move in contact with the cylinder-heads to and from the fixed piston, said oscillating piston having an annular hub and said heads having an annular groove in which said hub moves, and means for conducting pressure fluid through said shaft to and from a pressure-chamber between the fixed and oscillat-v ing pistons, substantially as described.

6. In a rotary engine, the combination of a revolving cylinder, a hollow shaft, a fixed piston rotating with said shaft and with lthe cylinder, an oscillating piston having a hub revolving upon said shaft, and' having wings extending from said hub between the cylinder-heads, said wings having shields,'shafts between the sides ofthe wings in said shields, shafts through the cylinder-heads having /crank-arms with the shafts between the wings, gear-wheels on the shafts extending through the cylinder-heads, fixed gear-wheels about which the former gear-wheels rotate, and means for conveying pressure fluid through said hollow shaft to and from a pressure-chamber between the fixed and oscillating pistons, substantially as described.

7. ln a rotary engine, the combination of a revolving cylinder, a hollow shaft closed at its central portion, a-piston revolving with said shaft and cylinder, an oscillating piston on said shaft forming two pressure-chambers with said fixed piston,'individual passages from the ends of said hollow shaft to the pressure-chambers, and valves controlling the admission and exhaust of pressure fluid to and from the ends of said hollow shaft, substantially as described.

o 8. In a rotary engine, the combination of a' revolving cylinderfa shaft, a fixed piston rotating with said shaft and cylinder, an oscillating piston rotating on said shaft, means for imparting two complete oscillations to said piston in one revolution of the shaft and cylinder, valves and passages to thev chambers between the oscillating and fixed pistons, and a sparking device, said valves, passages and sparking device being arranged to explode and discharge the explosive mixture in one of said complete oscillations and to admit and compress a charge of the explosive mixture in the second oscillation, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my IOO hand in the presence of -two subscribing wit-1 nesses.

PAUL C. SAINSEVAIN.

Witnesses:

Trios. BoDLEY, C. J. LIGH'rsToN. 

